11.10.20

Durbin Slams Republicans On Judiciary Committee For Continuing To Relitigate The 2016 Election And The Mueller Investigation

Durbin Again Calls For Oversight Hearing Of The Trump Department Of Justice, Cites AG Barr's Order To Investigate Claims Of Voter Fraud

WASHINGTON – During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, entitled “Oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation: Day 4,” which featured former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) slammed Republicans on the Committee for continuing their partisan sideshow re-litigating the investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, and ignoring their responsibility to conduct oversight of the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice. Durbin highlighted Attorney General Bill Barr yesterday authorizing federal prosecutors to investigate “specific allegations” of voter fraud before the results of the presidential race are certified. 

“Attorney General Barr is clearly attempting to fabricate a veneer of legitimacy for the baseless claims of voter fraud made by President Trump and his supporters, and he's doing so by overriding longstanding Department of Justice policies that were put in place to prevent this very type of political interference in an election season,” Durbin said. “Is there anyone on or off this Committee who believes that General Barr's actions yesterday preserve the integrity of the Department of Justice, where baseless claims are being made about voter fraud?”

Durbin noted that the Committee has not held a single oversight hearing for the Department of Justice during the current two-year Congress, despite a longstanding tradition of annual DOJ oversight hearings.  Durbin also said the Committee – including the Subcommittee on Immigration, where Durbin serves as Ranking Member – has failed to conduct oversight of the President’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, which forcibly separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents. To date, 666 children have not been reunited with their families because their parents cannot be located.

“Perhaps we might even investigate the Department of Homeland Security and their zero-tolerance policy. I regret what happened to Carter Page, I've said so before. But I also regret what happened to thousands of infants, toddlers and children, who were physically removed from their parents by the zero-tolerance policy of the Trump Administration,” Durbin said.

Video of Durbin’s remarks in Committee is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks in Committee is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks in Committee is available here for TV Stations.

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